July 18, 2008

These Boots Were Made For Walkin’

 When my family relocated here to So Cal from rural Central Illinois, I was amazed by the proximity of grocery stores, Starbucks, and parks near most homes we looked at.  In fact, I love the fact I can walk with my kids to the grocery store to grab a few groceries, grab lunch at the park, etc.  And with gas prices on the rise you better believe I’m hightailing it with the stroller more and more.

With the unletting increase in gas prices you can only imagine that choosing a home with great location and walkability will probably become a more significant factor. 

Enter, WalkScore.com .  The rate and rank neighborhoods based on walkability to various necessities on a scale of 1-100 (100 has the highest walk factor).  You can search by address or even by city (which is less accurate).  Depending on the area both Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo have some highly walkable and some highly car dependent areas.

Walk Score does address some of their “How It Doesn’t Work” factors:

Public transit: Good public transit is important for walkable neighborhoods.

Street width and block length: Narrow streets slow down traffic. Short blocks provide more routes to the same destination and make it easier to take a direct route.

Street design: Sidewalks and safe crossings are essential to walkability. Appropriate automobile speeds, trees, and other features also help.

Safety from crime and crashes: How much crime is in the neighborhood? How many traffic accidents are there? Are streets well-lit?

Pedestrian-friendly community design: Are buildings close to the sidewalk with parking in back? Are destinations clustered together?

Topography: Hills can make walking difficult, especially if you’re carrying groceries.

Freeways and bodies of water: Freeways can divide neighborhoods. Swimming is harder than walking.

Weather: In some places it’s just too hot or cold to walk regularly.

For me, they missed another big one - geography!  My neighborhood has great walkability in one direction.  While there are stores, parks, etc. in another direction it is a steep walk.  And by steep I mean nearly impossible to get up or down.  I have to throw the car into 3rd gear on the way down the road when driving to save my brakes every day.

So as you’re looking into homes and doing your research you can add yet another thing to your checklist to look into - walkability.